Style on Trial: Clothes that are attached to each other

This is one fashion trend that we just can’t get our heads around. You know the deal: dresses with sweaters sewn onto them; sweaters with a fake shirt attached to the neckline; shirts that have a shrug or cardigan sewn on. They look like two items of clothing, but here’s the thing – they’re not! They’re just one, slightly freaky, item and we Just. Don’t. Get. It.

Take the pinafore dress above, for instance. Looks fine, doesn’t it? It’s being worn with a black polo-neck sweater, and that’s also fine. The problem with this outfit, though? Well, it’s not actually a dress and a sweater, is it? No, it’s one crazy hybrid sweater-dress, and we’ll say it one more time: WHY? What’s the point of that? It’s not like it takes a huge amount of extra time to put on a dress AND a sweater, so why sew them both together? What if you wanted to wear the dress with a white shirt? Or something else? What if you wanted to pair your classic black turtleneck with a pair of skinny jeans or a shirt? Well too bad, you can’t: it’s stuck onto the dress, so you will wear them together, always and forever. WHY?

Now, don’t get us wrong: we don’t think these hybrid items look bad – we just don’t understand the point of them, and we think we’d prefer our clothes to be a little more versatile than that. Anyone out there care to explain it to us? Do you buy the stuck-together-clothes?

6 Comments

November 16, 2007

gokarm

I know! It’s so aggrivating. I don’t even mind if they sell them together as a set, just don’t sew them together! They do this all the time in plus size clothing. I can only assume the “designer” doesn’t trust ordinary women to have any style sense so they force the issue. It’s lame.

Tina

I agree with the crazyness of the clothing connected, however part of the reason they are sewn together is it’s the price of one item withthe look of two items. If we could buy the shirt and the dress for the same price as the shirt/dress we would all be good.

Meg

I’m not a fan of the idea. I change my mind often, get bored with the same look often, and really an outfit without the flexibility of two separate pieces gets my goat. I can see the appeal for those wishing for more convenience, but I like knowing that if I didn’t WANT to wear something with another piece of clothing, I didn’t HAVE to.

Bunnie

I’ll repeat what Cadi and Ma’at said, and say that while I don’t actually own any hybrid clothing I would love a tight black sweater with a fake white blouse collar. I’ve wanted one for a while, for work or other such circumstances.
I can never wear a jumper over my blouses in winter because of the creases underneath and the trouble of making it all fit, work, together..
Maybe next winter I shall grab one if I can find them around.
As far as the jumper and pinafore goes.. I agree. Why??